


How things begin

by wifebeast__s



Series: LA By Night Fluff Fest 2020 [3]
Category: L.A. By Night (Web Series)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, L.A. By Night Fluff Fest 2020, Motels, Road Trip, fleeing in the night, is this fluff?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:07:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24047926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wifebeast__s/pseuds/wifebeast__s
Summary: Hester takes Kyoko under her wing. For the LA By Night Fluff Fest prompt #3: "I'll keep you safe, I promise."
Series: LA By Night Fluff Fest 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1731382
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	How things begin

**Author's Note:**

> “A mother is always the beginning. She is how things begin.” —Unknown
> 
> I was originally going a different way with this. Different characters and everything, but then this idea gripped me, and I wrote it all and could. not. stop.

Hester has been in her unlife for a long time when she meets Kyoko. 

The neonate is trying. She has an energy that Hester, even in life, could never hope to match. She is idealistic, optimistic, and seems to personify that song from a few years ago that was all the rage…what was it? Girls Just Want to Have Fun. Indeed that is true of the young girl.

Young.

So very young.

Far too young.

And left to figure it all out on her own. 

Hester believes in free will. She believes that there is an inherent imbalance in House Tremere, but she also believes that rules and structure are in place for a reason. No Kindred should sire a childe and leave them to this world.

The rules, of course, imply - demand, rather - that sire and childe both be punished for the misdeed, but she cannot fault this young woman for what was done to her.

They will need to leave, then.

The prospect tires her, but in a world of monsters, it is important to find ways to be kind. 

Of course Kyoko is also powerful. She can sense it. She is sure that others can, too. Or will be able to.

“Kyoko,” she gestures the girl sitting quietly nearby, and she obeys because she is frightened, and Hester has not raised a hand against her, “we shall need to leave soon. How much time do you need to prepare?”

She wrings her hands together, glancing over her shoulder, “I think, uh, yeah, I can be ready in like an hour.”

“I do not mean to rush you,” she tries to assure the young woman, “only to know when to be ready myself.”

Her reassurance is rewarded with a small smile, “Ok. Yeah. I, well, I don’t have much.”

Hester frowns, but she turns away, lest Kyoko think it is aimed at her, “I see. Well please collect your things. I will do the same.”

When she does turn back to Kyoko, she smiles at her, nodding back toward the room where she had been staying in encouragement

Hester was never a mother in life, and she doesn’t remember if she wanted to be. Such matters are of little concern in unlife. Watching Kyoko gather her things, she is sure that the younger Kindred would not appreciate the comparison; young women her age value their independence, she knows. 

She cannot dally, thinking of her past, so she returns to her own belongings. 

She has many years on Kyoko, even beyond her unlife, and accordingly she has accumulated more accouterments. Books, clothes, various arcane items, materials for spell casting, potions, and other personal effects. 

True to her word, she is ready within the hour, and it is in fact Hester who delays them. Her new ward stands at the door, the same nervous energy that she has had since they met.

“Am I, or, I guess…did I put you in trouble?”

Hester pauses, dropping a pair of shoes into a bag, “Oh. No, not at all.”

She completes her own packing, tucking a bag under her arm and lifting the other two, “No need to worry. Come now, to the car.”

They drive for hours, the headlights illuminating a world of shadow beyond the road, trees and streetlight poles marching into the distance behind them. The radio is soft, a combination of talk radio and classical that eventually fades to static. Hester doesn’t bother changing it.

She watches the rearview carefully, though she knows it is unnecessary. The heavy pull of the day sleep will alert her to the oncoming sunrise, though it will do no good to be caught with no shelter. The car would not offer enough protection, she knows.

A motel is the best she finds on the abandoned old highway, vacancy sign flickering red in the darkest hours before dawn. 

“Please wait here,” she looks at Kyoko, as she parks, waiting for a nodded confirmation before exiting, keys in hand. 

She doesn’t mean to seem untrustworthy. By now, no matter how little she was taught about what she is, Kyoko knows she cannot be in the sun, but it isn’t just that. Like anyone else, she has holdovers from her life, habits, quirks. Call this one of them. And the young woman in the car doesn’t seem to notice anyway.

The man at the counter shifts only slightly when she enters, and she wonders if she has stepped back in time. The TV he’s watching is an old tube set, black and white, picture scrolling every once in a while. The wallpaper and carpet both were staples in decades past and look about as worn as the attendant. A threadbare couch is set against the wall opposite the desk; she passes framed, unmemorable art on her way to the counter.

He looks up at her expectantly.

There is no mystery to her appearance, after all. It is dreadfully late or even more dreadfully early, depending on who you ask, and they are at the edge of a desert. 

“Just one room, please. We will be staying through the day.”

She takes the offered pen and signs a name to the book. Curiosity has her scanning the names there - Johnny Appleseed, Jane Doe, Paul McCartney. Seems they are in good company.

The sign behind him reads “$75 pr nt.”

He hands her a key, as she drops cash on the counter. 

The exchange is done, and she returns to the car, opening the passenger door, “If you need anything, grab it now. Otherwise it will be fine in here. The car is protected.”

Interest flashes in the girl’s eyes, “Oh yeah?”

Hester cannot stop her own smile, “Indeed. You will learn, my dear, that there is much we can do.”

Energy returns to Kyoko’s limbs, light to her eyes, as she scurries out of the car, “Wow! Really? When can I learn how to do that?”

“Gather your things, please.”

“Right,” she mumbles, opening the back door and tugging a backpack free from behind a heavier tote.

“When you learn it will be up to your aptitude, but once we get to San Diego, your tutelage will begin.”

“That is so cool,” she shakes her head, shifting her backpack over her shoulder.

Hester retrieves her own small overnight bag, a term she finds most amusing now, and leads Kyoko to the room with the corresponding number to the key in her hand.

The room is at least clean, though that matters very little to creatures such as them. She frowns at the curtains - of course the beds are not an option, and probably for the best; from the door, with what little light the flickering fluorescent outside provides, she can see the significant dips in the middle of each of them.

“We will need to sleep in the bathroom or closet, I’m afraid.”

Kyoko schools her features and shrugs, “Yeah, that’s ok.”

Something close to guilt coils in Hester’s chest. Again she thinks of this girl’s unlife so far, and the guilt simmers into rage toward whoever did this. She focuses that fury toward finding a suitable place for them to sleep; already she can feel the sun’s approach.

“Place your things wherever you like and please close and lock the door.”

As Kyoko follows her instructions, she crosses to the far side of the room. To the right is a bifold door, which she opens to reveal a closet that might barely contain their bags. She frowns and turns to the left, pushing open the hollow wood door to a green-tiled bathroom.

No window inside. She nods, “This will do.”

Kyoko appears at her shoulder, peering in, “Safer than hoping those shades block the sun, right?”

She nods in response, steps in and holds the door further open.

“Just for tonight,” she offers as apology.

No doubt Kyoko has already learned the hard truths about survival. Still, Hester longs for the comfort of a haven, a bed, a sense of safety.

She looks out into the room and considers…but no, there is no time for her to ward the room. She follows her young charge into the small space and shuts the door.

“I should have asked - do you need blankets? We can set up the tub-”

Kyoko’s smile is warm, “Hester, this is fine. I…thank you. Thank you for finding me and for taking me in.”

Her response dies in her throat, and she resorts to returning the smile and gesturing once more to the tub. At her gesture, Kyoko climbs in, sliding down against the smooth fiberglass. 

It isn’t long before her eyes close.

Hester sighs, adding a towel to the ground nearby before settling down, knowing that soon she too will succumb to the day sleep. She gazes for a moment at the figure sleeping in the tub then carefully, gingerly reaches out to shift a tuft of hair out of her face, whispering, “Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe, I promise.”


End file.
